Khurram points finger at catching

Khurram Khan, the UAE captain, has said that poor catching and bowling were why his side lost to Netherlands despite posting what he felt was a reasonable total. UAE made 151 after choosing to bat and, although they were in a position at various stages to have made a few more runs, Khurram felt it was their defence of the target that left a lot to be desired.

"I do not think it was big match nerves," Khurram said. "Fielding was a real concern for the last few games. We dropped them in the last game as well. We are giving too many chances in the field, dropped too many and in the end we paid for that."

UAE put down at least four chances and also gave away runs through misfields. The Netherlands openers effectively ran away with the game when they added 69 inside seven overs but Khurram said UAE's bowlers had also contributed to that by not sticking to disciplined lines and lengths.

"There is no doubt about it. They batted really well. But that is what happens in the first six overs if you don't bowl well, in the good areas. Obviously you are going to go for runs and then we kept giving them chances, we dropped so many catches."

Khurram admitted UAE should have managed a bigger total, given that they were 79 for 2 in the 11th over and 127 for 4 in the 16th. "I said 150 would have been a good target but you have to keep in mind that you have to bowl very well and take your catches. At one stage, we could have got 170-175. We were 25 runs short. That was the difference in the end."

It was Khurram who, along with Swapnil Patil, had rebuilt UAE's innings from 12 for 2. However, both batsmen were dismissed in the space of four deliveries, bowled by Tom Cooper as they tried late-cutting despite not having much room. Khurram said that as set batsmen, they should have pushed on for longer.

"It is the responsibility of the batsman who is there. I gave away my wicket in the same over Swapnil got out and then in the 15th-16th over we lost three wickets in the span of three-four runs. Both Rohan [Mustafa] and Shaiman [Anwar] were playing very well and Amjad Javed is a very good batsman for us. That cost us dearly."